Machine tool lubricating device

ABSTRACT

A lubricating device in which passages for compressed air and cutting fluid to be fed under pressure are connected to a double pipe nozzle through a pilot valve and a mixing valve, with a control pilot pressure being applied through a mechanical valve to a diaphragm located at said pilot valve, and with a gauge tube and a transparent gauge window being provided in the cutting fluid passage of said mixing valve.

United States Patent 1m Iizumi MACHINE TOOL LUBRICATING DEVICE [751Inventor: Tomomitsu lizumi, Katsushika-ku,

Tokyo, Japan [73] Assignee: Shoketsu Kinmku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,Tokyo, Japan I45| Sept. 4, 1973 3,086,617 4/1963 Thomas 184/56 FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,206,847 8/1959 France 137/595 PrimaryExaminer-Manuel A. Antonakas Att0meyToren and McGeady [57] ABSTRACT Alubricating device in which passages for compressed air and cuttingfluid to be fed under pressure are connected to a double pipe nozzlethrough a pilot valve and a mixing valve, with a control pilot pressurebeing applied through a mechanical valve to a diaphragm located at saidpilot valve, and with a gauge tube and a transparent gauge window beingprovided in the cutting fluid passage of said mixing valve.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDsu' 4 mm SHEEY 1 HF FIG.

TOMOMIISU nzum BY M We ATTORNEYS PAIENTEBSEP 4 m 3.756348 SHEEI 2 OF 2INVENTOR TOMOMITSU IIZUMI BY 7571727 W/ ATTORNEYS 1 MACHINE TOOLLUBRICATING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to a lubricating device for applying a cooled and atomizedcutting fluid to a cutting tool after mixing said fluid with compressedair.

In order to increase the usable life of cutting tools and to improve theefficiency of the cutting operation by decreasing wear on the tool andremoving chips, prior art systems have utilized the lubricating andcooling effect of a cutting fluid sprayed by means of compressed air.lnasmuch as such systems have employed electro-magnetic valves which areopened and closed by means of a microswitch or the like, the use ofinflammable cutting fluids becomes very dangerous. Consequently, such asystem requires a complicated explosion-proof construction, resulting inan increase in manufacturing cost. Other disadvantages of such a systemare that detection of the amount of cutting fluid being fed is highlyproblematic, and that the cutting fluid may be sometimes fed withoutbeing atomized due to clogging of the valve by dirt, dust, or the like.Furthermore, even if such are discovered after they occur, it isdifficult" to ascertain their cause.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to eliminate theabove-described drawbacks. The invention involves provision of alubricating device of the type in which a manuallyoperated orinterlocked mechanical mixing valve and a pilot valve are providedinstead of said electromagnetic valve on the air pressure line. Theopening and closing of the pilot valve is accomplished by means of apilot pressure, and a gauge tube and window are provided in the mixingvalve, which is designed to mix the cutting fluid with compressed air,said gauge window being made of a transparent resin to enable easydetection of the amount of fluid therein.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its user,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which there is illustrated and described a preferredembodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustratean embodiment of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the construction of saidembodiment;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are front and side sectional views, respectively, of thepilot valve of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the mixing valve.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2,the outlet side of a pressure-reducing valve 1 including a filter whichis designed to purify compressed air and set its pressure to a desiredmagnitude is branched into three outlet flow paths. One of said branchesis directly connected through a pilot valve 6 and a mixing valve to adouble pipe nozzle 5 which directs discharging fluid to a cutting tool.Another branch is connected to the upper part of a tank 4 through asmall-sized pressure-reducing valve 2 which is designed to applypressure to the level of the cutting fluid in the tank 4. Furthermore,said branch is connected from the bottom of said tank 4 to said doublepipe nozzle 5 through said pilot valve 6 and mixing valve 15 in the samemanner as described above. The remaining branch is connected to saidpilot valve 6 through a select-type mechanical valve 3 which is designedto open or close the pilot valve 6 by application of a pilot signalpressure. Thus, the change-over of the pilot valve 6 is accomplished byopening or closing the mechanical valve 3 which may be of a manual typeor which may be interlocked with a machine, thus performing atomizedlubrication from the nozzle 5 by intermittent feed of compressed air andthe cutting fluid in the tank 4. Referring next to FIGS. 3 and 4illustrating the pilot valve 6, an air inlet 7 connected directly to thepressure-reducing valve 1 with a filter is in communication with anoutlet 8 through a valve 12. An inlet 9 for the cutting fluid from thetank 4 is in communication with an outlet 10 through a valve 13. Adiaphragm 14 is located above said valves 12 and 13 so that the pilotpressure can be applied from an inlet 1 l. The diaphragm 14 is presseddown by means of said pilot pressure to open the valves 12 and 13, thuspermitting air and the cutting fluid to flow. Referring now to FIG. 5illustrating the mixing valve 15, an air inlet 16 is in communicationwith an outflow passage 18 through an adjusting needle valve 17. A fluidinlet 19 is in communication with an outlet 21 through an adjustingneedle valve 20, at a position on which a gauge tube 22 is provided sothat the other end of said tube is located within a gauge window 23 madeof a transparent resin. Thus, the amounts of air and cutting fluid areadjusted by means of the adjusting needle valves 17 and 20, and at thesame time the flow condition of the cutting fluid is detected throughthe transparent gauge window.

As described above, this device accomplishes valve operation by applyingthe air pilot pressure to the diaphragm 14 located at the pilot valve 6,and therefore no electric spark or the like is necessary, thus makinguse of an inflammable cutting fluid quite safe. Moreover, the provisionof the gauge tube 22 and the gauge window 23 at the mixing valve 15designed to adjust air and cutting fluid permits easy detection of theamount of the cutting fluid at all times. Thus, the failure ofatmoization of the cutting fluid is entirely eliminated. Even if thefluid passage is clogged at any point, such clogging will serve as akind of guide for repair, and therefore repairing can be easilyaccomplished.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the application of the inventiveprinciples, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise without departing from such principles.

I claim:

1. A lubricating device for machine cutting tools comprising:

passage means including a double pipe nozzle for feeding compressed airand cutting fluid under pressure to a cutting tool;

a pilot valve including air inlet means and air outlet means with firstvalve means interposed therebetween to control air flow through saidpilot valve, fluid inlet means and fluid outlet means with second valvemeans interposed therebetween to control the fluid flow through saidpilot valve, and a diof fluid from said pilot valve; aphragm arranged tocontrol operation of said first mechanical valve means for applying apilot pressure and second valve means in response to fluid presto saiddiaphragm means to control operation of sure applied to said diaphragm;said pilot valve; and mixing valve including a compressed air passage 5atransparent gauge window and agauge tube located and a cutting fluidpassage for mixing said air and within said transparent window, saidtube and said said fluid, said pilot valve and said mixing valve windowbeing provided at the cutting fluid passage each being operativelyconnected in said passage of said mixing valve to enable detection ofthe level means to control fluid flow therethrough with said of cuttingfluid in said device. mixing valve receiving the flow of air and theflow

1. A lubricating device for machine cutting tools comprising: passagemeans including a double pipe nozzle for feeding compressed air andcutting fluid under pressure to a cutting tool; a pilot valve includingair inlet means and air outlet means with first valve means interposedtherebetween to control air flow through said pilot valve, fluid inletmeans and fluid outlet means with second valve means interposedtherebetween to control the fluid flow through said pilot valve, and adiaphragm arranged to control operation of said first and second valvemeans in response to fluid pressure applied to said diaphragm; a mixingvalve including a compressed air passage and a cutting fluid passage formixing said air and said fluid, said pilot valve and said mixing valveeach being operatively connected in said passage means to coNtrol fluidflow therethrough with said mixing valve receiving the flow of air andthe flow of fluid from said pilot valve; mechanical valve means forapplying a pilot pressure to said diaphragm means to control operationof said pilot valve; and a transparent gauge window and a gauge tubelocated within said transparent window, said tube and said window beingprovided at the cutting fluid passage of said mixing valve to enabledetection of the level of cutting fluid in said device.